Just watched PENULTIMATE TRUTH documentary last night and I have to say it shed new light on much of Dick's life and clarified a few details in my mind.
Overall, the impression I was left with was that Phil was a lost soul. If I had been his friend while he was alive I think I would've really felt a need to help him get his life back on track.
At the end, when his friend Joan was recounting his speech in France about alternate realities and remembering future events, etc. I would have to agree with her that it was sad. A great mind had veered off course and would never return home.
Perhaps, as Jeter suggests near the end, the Transmigration of Timothy Archer is a sign of hope that PKD really did realize that he had gone too far with some of his theories and eventually returned to reality/sanity before he died. I really hope so.
I also found it fascinating that during the period of time when PKD was taking amphetamines to write 24/7 and avoid sleeping for days/weeks at a time - it was when he was writing his mainstream novels - NOT the more psychedlic/reality-bending sci-fi stories.
Of course, this was also when he started to see faces in the sky and threatened his wife with a gun. So, the negative affects were very real.
The other thought I had after watching it was a profound sadness that Phil never lived to see the future we're living in now. iPhones, Google, the internet, nanotechnology, etc. - all of it would have delighted and astounded him.
If only he could've held on a few more years, there's no telling what new stories he would have told.
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